Recent content by drink88

We have a coop that we have closed off one side, to allow two hens to hatch their eggs, that way they are left alone. Well, they hatched, and now 2 mama birds and roughly 9 chicks (hard to count, mama's are being territorial). My question is this... Do we need to get baby chick feed for them...

Ok, so I have 32 egg layers (White Leghorns), two of them being Roosters. I have about 1/4 acre backyard where they have free reign, and a coop that is 16x8 that houses them. I need to make a change, as my entire backyard is just dirt and shit right now, they've eaten all the grass, roots...

Nice, exactly what I was looking for. Do you happen to know where to get grit? I'm headed to the feed store later today, I'll see if they have it. I found a video on YT where she breaks down nutrients and weight and all that, so you know you're getting the right amount of food and...

Looking to find out when you can start feeding your chicks (1 month old egg layers and 3 week old meat chickens) homemade chicken feed (corn, peas, flax, barley, wheat, etc). As long as I keep the protein level where it needs to be, is there any draw backs to getting them off starter feed and...

If I have two hens that are laying fertilized eggs, and they lay roughly 5-6 a week, how do I property incubate them using a mechanical incubator when their eggs are spread out over two weeks? I've read through some of the posts, and tried to find someone explaining this online, but haven't...

Good information. The one thing I can't figure out is this...if I have a hen that is laying fertile eggs, and I want to use a machine incubator, how is that supposed to work? Once you start the incubator, you're not really supposed to mess with it, or open it, so for the next 14 days that the...

Have you, or do you know of anyone, that breeds CRX? If you wanted to create an enclosed system for meat birds, and CRX are the best, how would you go about doing that? Most people say that you can't, as they get too big, have issues, etc. Although I have seen one lady that had them in a...

I think you're right, but as a newb, I know no other way. Yes, I've come to this conclusion over the course of this forum post. Makes sense, all together, they can keep laying eggs, and possibly fertile eggs so that I can keep the egg layer numbers up. And yes, finding a breed that is known...

This is my second post. Still replying to folks that have been a great help in my first forum post. Learned a lot. My second post: I want to raise meat chickens and never have to buy meat chickens again, and instead make my own. Thinking of buying 15 Jumbo Cornish Cross from Cackle Hatchery...

Just curious...you mentioned Ideal Poultry in Texas. That's where I am getting my White Leghorns from. Are you in Texas, or just having them shipping from there? I'm in Texas, between Houston and Dallas. Great idea. So, there won't be any issues with two roosters with 30 hens in one pen...

You're right. I did read that White Leghorns aren't the best for meat chickens, so it wouldn't make much sense to try and create more of them for meat. So...I will order another bread for meat chickens...maybe the Cornish Cross as you suggested. Not to milk this, but trying to think through...

Ok, I still have a lot to learn with this part of the process. Broody means that they will sit on the eggs, or in the egg laying box, for long periods of time, as if she was incubating. I will only know if one of the is broody by noticing them laying in the boxes, right? Are you saying that...

Really appreciate all the great information! I will probably have a separate part of the coop for baby making/incubating, so they can focus at the task at hand! So getting some bantams like you say will probably be the answer. I think this will also take care of knowing which eggs are...

I haven't figured that out yet...I just ordered my White Leghorns, did a lot of reading and it seemed like they were a great egg layer. Now it's time to move on to finding some good meat birds, so will start researching that now.

Good to know. That makes things much easier in my set up. Appreciate the input.